


Cooking Date for a Healthier Goro

by chilled_ramune



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Caretaking, Cooking, Fluff, M/M, a bit of hurt/comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-03-29
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:41:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23369389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chilled_ramune/pseuds/chilled_ramune
Summary: Goro isn't one to eat healthy, and Yuuki isn't one to let his boyfriend continue on such a poor diet. And thus, a cooking date is arranged to show Goro the joys of good food.
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Mishima Yuuki
Comments: 5
Kudos: 34





	Cooking Date for a Healthier Goro

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nothlits](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nothlits/gifts).



> This is a b-day present for my wonderful friend nothlits!! You're such a fantastic writer and friend, and I hope you had a good one. c: I of COURSE had to write about akeshima, and I knew they'd like something with people taking care of each other and let's be real what's better than that!!

When it came to taking care of himself, Goro Akechi’s biggest downfall was his diet. He practiced good hygiene, kept his apartment immaculate, hell, even his shitty sleep schedule was better than what he ate! Ever since the day he got his own place away from foster care, he lived off of nothing but instant noodles, takeout, and pre-packaged meals from the convenience store. He missed meals a lot because of stress, exhaustion, and just how overwhelmingly busy he was. Things improved a bit when he started dating Yuuki. Home cooked meals were a staple in the Mishima family, and Goro was very openly invited to share with them. But since dodging death, returning to a society that seemed to almost entirely forget his existence as the great detective prince, and starting college, his visits were getting less and less. Maybe that wasn’t something he should have told his boyfriend but...

“Wait, what?!” Yuuki paused their game in order to look wide-eyed at Goro. “You- why didn’t you tell me this sooner?! You need to eat better! You can’t just live off of junk food!”

Goro sighed. “Yuuki, really. It’s fine. I’m still alive aren’t I?”

“Yeah, but it won’t be for long if you start developing health problems! There’s so much that can go wrong with a diet like that!”

“I doubt it’s that serious.”

“What if it is?!” Oh god, he could hear that crack in Yuuki’s voice he gets when he’s truly upset. “I’m worried... Don’t you have anything healthier you could make?”

_ Shit.  _ There was that word. The word he hated. ‘Worry.’ Why would people worry about him? He hated it. He wasn’t worth the energy. Yuuki shouldn’t worry about him. The thought of his boyfriend losing sleep over this, stressing himself out over him... it stung like hell. But still...

“I couldn’t do anything, even if I wanted to,” he admitted softly. He dropped his voice lower to say, “I don’t know how to cook.”

“You... what?” Yuuki tilted his head and moved closer.

“I don’t know how to cook, okay?!” Goro realized he was getting a bit too on edge and took a breath to calm himself. “I never learned. I never had anyone teach me and I have no desire to teach myself. So please, just drop it.” 

Of course that wouldn’t be enough for Yuuki. Goro knew this. Yuuki never quit when he saw someone in need. Goro was in need, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to escape getting help.

“I’ll teach you,” Yuuki offered as he grabbed one of Goro’s hands. “Please let me teach you.”

Despite knowing that doing so would make him cave and take the help he wished he didn’t need, Goro looked at Yuuki’s face. Those sweet, caring, pleading grey eyes, the determined pout; there was no way he could say no to that. 

“Fine. We can try. Just... stop worrying about me until then. Please.”

Yuuki nodded and smiled. “Fine, I won’t worry if you’ll let me help,” Yuuki said before kissing Goro’s cheek. “Your place next weekend good?” 

“I should be free then. Go easy on me, okay? Don’t get angry and start yelling at me if I mess things up like on television cooking contests,” Goro joked with a soft chuckle. 

“If you mess up, nothing can stop my wrath!” Yuuki teased, laughing along. He sighed and leaned against Goro, placing his controller aside to wrap his arms around his boyfriend’s waist. “Really though. Thank you for letting me help. It means a lot.”

“You know I can never say no to you,” Goro said before kissing the top of Yuuki’s head. “You have the unfair advantage of being adorable.”

For the rest of the night, the two forgot the game in favor of cuddling in silence, eventually falling asleep in each other’s arms. 

* * *

The week until the cooking date passed slowly and anxiously for Goro. What if he couldn’t do it? What if he screwed up and disappointed Yuuki? Failure was not an option. Failure was  _ never _ an option. Failure in front of Yuuki was even worse. He watched a few cooking videos to prepare himself, but they didn’t help much. He’d have to learn hands on and risk completely humiliating himself in front of the last person he’d ever want to be humiliated in front of. But cancelling would disappoint him even more and make him worry. It was a loss either way. He’d just have to accept his inevitable failure. 

Soon enough, it was Saturday. The plan was for Yuuki to go to the store after school, and then bring the ingredients back to Goro’s apartment for them to cook. Come to think of it, he hadn’t even told Goro what they were going to make. It felt silly to ask when he’d find out in a couple hours, though. It’d have to be a surprise. Something simple, he hoped. 

An hour and a half after Yuuki got out of school, Goro heard a knock at his door. He hurried over to open it and sure enough, there was Yuuki, arms full of groceries. He was holding a lot of bags, but didn’t seem to be struggling at all. Still, Goro felt bad making him handle all that on his own.

“Do you need help?” He offered “That looks like an awful lot of groceries.”

“Nope! I’ve got this!” Yuuki didn’t seem to struggle at all. He didn’t look like it at first glance, but damn was he strong. Goro would be lying if he said he didn’t find it attractive as hell. 

Yuuki placed the groceries on the counter in the kitchen and put his hands on his hips. “Alright! I bought everything we need to make fried rice! Something nice and simple for your first time cooking!” 

“Fried rice?” Goro tilted his head. “I have fried rice all the time, though.”

“Yeah, takeout fried rice. Homemade tastes better, gives you more control over what you want, and it’s much healthier.” 

Goro blinked a few times as he tried to process what Yuuki was saying. Was homemade rice really that much better than takeout...? He couldn’t see it, but if Yuuki said so he’d try and believe it. 

The groceries were all set out. Rice, some sauces and oil, vegetables, and seasoning. Would all this really be going into one meal? Would he be able to turn it into something edible? He wanted to back out already, but seeing Yuuki smiling so much, seeing him seem so enthusiastic to help out...  _ Damnit.  _ He couldn’t bring himself to let him down. 

“So... what do we need to do first?” He asked, smiling to hide his anxiety. 

“You have a rice cooker, right? We need to make the rice, and it tastes better made in one.” 

“I think I have one... somewhere around here...” Goro began to look through mostly empty cabinet after mostly empty cabinet, and eventually found a rather ancient-looking rice cooker. “We may need to clean it first. I’ll take care of that.”

Once the rice cooker was nice and clean, Yuuki started the rice. “That’s simple enough, now let’s get to the hard stuff.” 

“Hard...?” Goro asked cautiously. He wasn’t ready for anything hard. He wasn’t ready to fail. He’d screw up and Yuuki would be upset and-

“It’s not that hard, don’t worry. I’m confident you can do it!” The bright smile on Yuuki’s face as he reassured Goro was uplifting, and Goro found himself imbued with a confidence only Yuuki could give him. 

“Right!” He said with a slightly more genuine confident smile. “Just show me what we need to do!”

“Well, first we need to cut up the vegetables! You have a cutting board and knife, right? Maybe I should have made sure all of this stuff beforehand...” 

“It’s fine!” Goro once again went through his kitchen and found the one cutting board and single knife he owned. He felt a bit shaky taking out the knife, but he tossed the feeling aside to focus on the task at hand. 

“We’ll start with the onion. I’ll cut one half, and I want you to watch me so you can cut the other half, okay?” Yuuki cut the onion in half, and then chopped it slowly to show Goro the motions. “Think you can do that yourself?”

His mind was protesting, but Goro refused to let that get in the way of him doing what Yuuki seemed to want him to do so badly. He took the knife and once again, his hands began to shake. His mind overwhelmed him.  _ Hurt someone. Hurt him, hurt yourself, someone. Do it already. Stab him. Hurt him.  _

Goro began to feel his heart race, his breath get short, and his head spin. He wanted to tell his mind to shut up. He wanted to scream and throw things and cry. He didn’t want to hurt Yuuki or himself. He didn’t want to hurt anyone. He just wanted to do what would make Yuuki happy! Why did his mind have to be like this?! 

It was one thing holding his weapons in the metaverse. He had a  _ goal  _ of hurting someone. If he got thoughts of hurting someone, it was easy to just take that out on a shadow. Cutting an onion just wasn’t the same as slashing away at monsters. Nothing could stop these thoughts but acting on them, which was the last thing he wanted to do. He wanted this to stop he wanted out he wanted to shut up he wanted-

“Goro!” Yuuki’s worried voice pulled Goro out of his fit. “Goro, sweetie, hey. You alright?” Goro felt Yuuki slowly rubbing his back, and the action steadily relaxed him. 

“S...sorry... I don’t think I can do uh... knife... stuff...” Goro put the knife down and hugged Yuuki. “I’m sorry... I don’t want to let you down... My mind just can’t handle this...”

“Hey, hey,” Yuuki whispered as he hugged back. “It’s okay. I’m here. I’ve gotcha. I can take care of the cutting. We’ll work on it with you some other day. It’s fine. I’m glad you at least tried.” 

The two pulled away from the hug and smiled at one another. “God, I must look so pathetic.” Goro said with a laugh. “I don’t think this is what they mean when they say cutting onions makes you cry.” 

“You look fine, I promise.” Yuuki reached up and thumbed away Goro’s tears. “You did your best, and I’m proud of you for trying.” 

“You’re only going to make me cry more...” Goro muttered. 

Yuuki leaned up for a peck on the lips. “Fine, I’ll stop for now. Let me take care of the vegetables, you can sit back and catch your breath.” 

He felt a bit guilty making Yuuki do all the work, but Goro complied, sitting at the table in the dining room until the vegetables were ready to go. 

“Alright!” Yuuki called. “Vegetables are cut, and just in time for the rice to be ready! Can you come help me with this? No more knives, I promise.” 

Goro returned to the kitchen, successful at calming himself down from his panic attack. “I’m ready. What now?”

“We need to combine the rice with some seasoning, some sesame oil, and soy sauce. I found a bowl for it all.” Yuuki had already moved the rice into the bowl, and had the oil and soy sauce out on the counter with it. “Did you want to do the honors? I couldn’t find any measuring spoons, but I can help you eyeball it.”

“Certainly.” With a smile, Goro took his place in front of the bowl, and started carefully pouring sesame oil over the rice. 

“Aaaand there! Perfect!” Yuuki smiled and clapped his hands together. “Now for the soy sauce. The best part.”

Goro chuckled. God, seeing Yuuki this happy was all he needed in life. He took the soy sauce and began to pour it on top...and pour it on top....and pour it... “Uh, Yuuki? This is a lot...” 

“Hang on...just a bit more...there, perfect.” Yuuki nodded triumphantly. “Just enough.” 

“You really like soy sauce I see.” 

“It’s the best part of fried rice, trust me on this. It’s nothing without a whole lot of soy sauce.” 

Yuuki’s enthusiasm over the smallest, silliest of things encouraged Goro to be that much more confident. He started to believe maybe it wouldn’t matter if this turned out good or not. What made it good was seeing Yuuki so excited, getting to be excited with him, getting to just be with him. 

“Alright, now we need to cook the vegetables. Do you have a wok?” Yuuki asked.

Goro scrunched his face in thought. “Not that I know of... would a regular pan work? Sorry, I should have been more prepared.” 

“It’s fine! To be honest I should have clarified all this sooner, I was just so excited about today I wasn’t thinking,” Yuuki laughed, a laugh that reminded Goro that this wasn’t about quality, but about them being together. “We can use the regular pan if it’s big enough,” Yuuki added.

Goro pulled a large pan from on a cabinet over the stove and placed it on one of the burners. “There we go. Now what?”

“Get some oil on there, get it hot, and put the onions on it. You want to do that on your own, or do you need my help?” 

“I think I’ve got it.” Goro said before taking the vegetable oil, turning on the burner, and pouring the oil in. “Is this right?”

“You’re doing great,” Yuuki assured. “Once it’s hot, just drop the onions in. I put them right next to you.” 

Goro did as he was told. Though Yuuki had to guide him at first, he quickly got the hang of things and managed to cook them on his own, as well as the egg, the rice, and the rest of the vegetables. He was practically a natural at cooking! He wasn’t one to be surprised by his own skills but this time he certainly was. It was so easy and fun, and Yuuki being there made it even better.

Though he wasn’t sure about things at first, Goro felt the food was turning out amazingly. A savory smell filled the kitchen, one much different than what he was used to from takeout. It smelled so much better. The soy sauce smell was admittedly a bit overwhelming at first, but as things cooked more Goro grew adjusted to it. 

“It smells delicious,” Yuuki said, wrapping his arms around Goro from behind. “You’re such an amazing cook.” 

The only response Goro could come up with for the compliment was a blush and a soft chuckle. Yuuki sure knew how to lay on the praise. “Does it look ready?” 

“It looks perfect.” 

With that, Goro turned off the burner and turned around to steal a quick kiss before grabbing a couple of plates. He piled rice onto both plates, walked with Yuuki to the dining room, and placed a plate in front of each of the two seats at the table (the chairs in front of which were mismatched, on account of Goro not getting a second chair until Yuuki started coming over). 

“Thank you for the food!” Saying the phrase in unison was something Goro had trouble with when he first started eating with others, but could now do without so much as a thought. 

Goro was hesitant to take the first bite. What if it didn’t turn out right? What if he screwed up? What if it was inedible? Yuuki, on the other hand, dug right in, and the smile that lit up his face told Goro he had nothing to fear. He dug in a few more times, and Goro chuckled. “Slow down, dear. You’ll choke if you eat too fast.”

“Sorry,” Yuuki replied with a sheepish chuckle. “It’s just... it’s amazing! Have you tried it yet?”

“I was just about to.” Without any of his prior hesitation, Goro took a bite.  _ Wow.  _ It was delicious! Much, much better than takeout rice. He was almost tempted to eat just as fast as Yuuki had earlier, but resisted the urge, instead taking his time and savoring the simply  _ amazing  _ meal he and Yuuki made together. 

The dinner was the most enjoyable one Goro had in a long time, even counting the times he had eaten with Yuuki’s family. Being one on one with Yuuki like this, eating a home cooked meal they worked on together... it all felt so perfect.  _ This is what couples do. This is what people do when they love each other. This is what happiness feels like.  _

As they cleaned the dishes, Goro hummed to himself as he always did when he was content. The dishes didn’t take long, and as soon as everything was cleaned up Goro found himself in Yuuki’s arms,swaying slowly. The  _ best _ place to be. 

“See? Wasn’t that so much better than silly old takeout?” Yuuki asked as he fluffed Goro’s hair.

Goro smiled and leaned into the touch. Curse Yuuki for being so familiar with his weaknesses. He already wanted to melt right there. “It was good, I’ll give you that much...” He stopped smiling when he remembered the knife situation. “But... I don’t think I could do it without you.” 

“You’re worried about cutting things, aren’t you?” How did Yuuki know him so well? “Look, I’ll help you find things you don’t need to cut stuff for, okay? And we can work on your knife problem when you’re ready. I’d... really like if we could do this more often. How’s twice a month sound? You can still eat your junk food until you learn more, and I won’t worry about it too much as long as you let me get you to a point where you’re eating it less.”

“If I get more days like this, I’ll accept the loss of my precious convenience store meals.” Goro joked as he rubbed his face against Yuuki’s. 

“I’ll give you as many of these days as possible.” Yuuki whispered. “Anything to make sure you’re happy and healthy.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Again, HAPPY BIRTHDAY GAV!! This is such a fun fic to write and I'm glad you enjoyed it so much. Your presence in my life is always appreciated, and I'm glad I met you.


End file.
